3. Chumley’s was a haven for the literary world

Pretty much since its opening, Chumley’s has been a haven for writers and authors. There are so many who spent time there, including but not limited to: Ernest Hemingway, Arthur Miller, Jack Kerouac, F. Scott Fitzgerald, J.D. Salinger, Ray Bradbury, John Steinbeck, E.E. Cummings, Edna Ferber, Eugene O’Neil, Ring Lardner and Max Eastman, according to a Chumley’s rep. This was something original owner Leland Chumley strongly encouraged, according to Borgognone.

Photo of Leland Chumley

“Leland Chumley did,” he said, of what made the bar such a sought-after spot for literary types. “He considered himself a writer and befriended other writers.”Though, according to his obituary, he would only hang them after the writer’s second visit. We’re told that there is a photo in the back room that people frequently mistake for Leland Chumley, but the only photographic portrait of Chumley is prominently displayed in a gilded frame above the mantel (though there are two illustrations of him in the front vestibule as well).